Outdoor Growing in the UK desert.

[MickJ]

20 plants ! That sucks , probably the bloody ramblers society enforcing their right to go anywhere.

Hey man, to clarify, I had my main plot busted by police the previous June, and lost about 20 plants. I didn't get caught as I wasn't there when it was raided, but it was a massive set back, soul destroying, especially when I had literally put hours upon hours, days upon days of prep and work into that spot as well, to make it perfect. And it is completely unusable now. That was 75% of my plants lost in the bust last year.

And then in the autumn, the police raided my house and found several outdoor photoperiod plants in my shed drying, as well as a lot of dry bud. They claim an officer smelt it a few days before when he came to my door, but I reckon a neighbour grassed on me, and they are just saying that to protect the neighbour's identity.

Even though I moved house at he start of the year, I was still a bit apprehensive about growing again, but I am going to keep it relatively small and discreet this year. All autos. Couldn't resist the urge :smoking:

Sent from my comfy chair.
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[Anglo Automatics]

Blue Kush auto and White Widow XXL auto... 2 weeks old...

These pics are a few days old, but you can see just how dry the soil is now. It's almost like the surface of the moon, and when you're walking across it, dust clouds are kicked up. I reckon this bit of land has had maybe 2-3 inches of rain since January, and no rain at all in the past 6 weeks. Notice the brown dead plant in the second picture. Succumbed to the heat and drought.

I have been forced to use special basket/container compost with water retaining crystals, and I have also added vermiculite to the mix. I can't be hand watering these every day. We have 32 degrees C forecast for tomorrow as well.

I better tag @Dinafem-Mark, seeing as everything in this diary is Dinafem.

 

[Swan]

Blue Kush auto and White Widow XXL auto... 2 weeks old...

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These pics are a few days old, but you can see just how dry the soil is now. It's almost like the surface of the moon, and when you're walking across it, dust clouds are kicked up. I reckon this bit of land has had maybe 2-3 inches of rain since January, and no rain at all in the past 6 weeks. Notice the brown dead plant in the second picture. Succumbed to the heat and drought.

I have been forced to use special basket/container compost with water retaining crystals, and I have also added vermiculite to the mix. I can't be hand watering these every day. We have 32 degrees C forecast for tomorrow as well.

I better tag @Dinafem-Mark, seeing as everything in this diary is Dinafem.

Good shout on the water retaining composte. I use that too in flower pots and sunflowers, good stuff.

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[Senorstony]

Coco coir mixed through the compost will help a lot too

 

[Anglo Automatics]

Right, I am now having massive problems with draught and heat. I am now approaching 8 weeks since my last rainfall and the temperature has been around 30 degrees C every day, peaking at 36C yesterday lunch time in the shade. We clocked 33C today and consequently some of my plants are now showing signs of heat stress. Coupled with the dry baked ground where water is just non-existent now. To make matters worse, no rain forecast in next 14 days and temps around 30C.

I can't believe how much sand is appearing, not just in the open fields like it did during the 2016 draught, but this time the sand is everywhere, in the fields, in the woods, along pathways, next to roads, in gardens etc. I think it's a combination of draught, heat and sand from the Sahara being blown across from North Africa and settling and not being washed away.

East Hampshire sandline creeping westwards

Surrey desert (ALL plants & vegetation dead)

Sand in the woods now

Thankfully I planted most of my stuff in a swamp. Even that has dried out completely, with the ground baked solid, but it has still retained more water than the surrounding area. Here I am having to hand water plants every 2 days. In the actual desert areas I think they would be dead completely, even with irrigation every 2 days. It has been that hot and dry.

Dinafem Sour D auto (7 weeks old)

Critical+ 2.0 auto (22 days)

Quick Critical (22 days)

Quick Kush (22 days)

Blue Kush auto (19 days)

White Widow XXL auto (19 days)

Groupshot - temperature of soil is around 60C.

At this rate, that corn will be dead in 2 weeks which is a big problem. It is already shrivelling up and sections are dying off from a total lack of water. I predict by my next update, the corn will either all be dying, or already dead. No rain for 8 weeks nearly. Only 2.8 inches of rain in the whole of 2018 so far, which is less than half of what Las Vegas has had. And only 0.3 inches of rain since March 21st, which fell on 2 days.

Oh, and I will update on the Bubba Kush auto in the coming days. I should be chopping her tomorrow. :smoking:

Pray for some rain for me, please

 

[Gardengirl]

Prayers for rain... Unlikely though this summer has been madness ! My garden isn't complaining though !

 

[Swan]

What a battle so far, you certainly will have earned the fruits of your labour once this is done.

What are the odds if you decide to grow drought resistant strains next year it will piss with rain May to September!

I did say somewhere (might of been my thread who knows!) that it's obvious because Glastonbury isn't on this year it will be glorious the whole summer [emoji3]

Good luck man

Cheers
Swan

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[Anglo Automatics]

@Swan tell me about it mate. This summer has been baking hot, temps over 30C, and bone dry. But this time last summer we had a washout, non-stop rain and temps around 20C. So it can really vary, year on year. If I had planted in this swamp spot last year, they would have been washed out by now. I nearly wasn't going to use it this year, but it is just as well I did, as it is pretty much the only place that has retained any moisture in the soil.

But yeah, it makes it hard to specifically plan with drought resistant strains, or strains that like a lot of water. Seeing as our summer could be either end of the spectrum. Best to do a mix, or go for a balanced variety of strains.

You have had fantastic results with your autos this season, and yours have responded really well to training. Shame I can't really do that much, out in the bush. Well I can, but it's a bit of a pain, and hard to keep an eye on them.

 

[Anglo Automatics]

So I cut the Bubba Kush auto yesterday, at 11 weeks...

I reckon I must have sacrificed about 1/3 of my total yield by having them in the 1.5L plastic bottles. These could have got waaaay bigger than they did. Not to mention I lost the main coala on the Bubba Kush auto.

I won't bother with bottles next year, but at least I can now tick that off my list. I have grown 2 autos outdoors in 1.5L bottles And harvested over an ounce between them.

 

[Anglo Automatics]

Sour D auto (63 days)

Side branch...

Critical+ 2.0 auto (25 days old)

Quick Critical (25 days old)

Quick Kush (25 days old)

Blue Kush auto (21 days)

White Widow XXL (21 days)